Heritage Month is a time to reflect on our roots and who we are, and to celebrate our differences as well as our commonality. This week, Lifestyle's Nancy Acton meets one of St. David's Island's most colourful characters: Audrey May Pitcher. A mother of seven, grandmother of 20 and great-grandmother of 30, Mrs. Pitcher loves life, laughter, and people. Here, she looks back on her life, the events that have shaped it, today's Bermuda and more.

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Tucked away off a quiet St. David's Island lane, the squawk of a parrot and the laughter of its occupant spilling from the open door tells you that Audrey May Pitcher is at home. Like her fellow East Enders, she doesn't believe in standing on ceremony, putting on airs and graces, or pretending to be what she is not, so she greets you, even for the first time, as a long-lost friend.

"Now look here, my darlin'," she says, "I didn't get all prettied up just because the Press was coming you know. I look like this all the time because I say, when that knock comes on the door, you never know who's there, so I'm always dressed and ready."

On this day, Mrs. Pitcher is wearing a bright pink, flower-bedecked dress, with rouge and lipstick to match. Pearl earrings dangle from her lobes, a pearl necklace cascades over her bosom, and the stacked rings on her fingers include a large aquamarine birthstone. Her salt and pepper hair is slicked back into a bun, and protruding from it are a parrot feather and a ballpoint pen.

"There's something about wearing a feather. What is it?" she asks rhetorically. The pen, she explains, is because "you never know when it will come in handy".

Sitting comfortably in her tiny living room, where family pictures adorn the walls, and the refrigerator door is within reach of her easy chair, she competes with her pet parrot, Isaac ("He's got 15 colours you know") who sets up a deafening dialogue of his own because, she says, he is jealous of strangers. Behind him in another cage sit three parakeets, Peter, Paul and Cherry, staring silently at the scene.

"Oh heavenly father, help us all!" Mrs. Pitcher exclaims. "The girl bird is a little smaller than the others."

Completing the menagerie are two little, old terriers, Scotty and Dotty, who amble in and out.

"They stick by me; I tell you girl they're like children," their owner says. "I tell people, 'Treat your dog like a child'. My dogs don't eat no store-bought food like Kibbles 'n' Bits. No sir. They like cooked food. Watch this."

She orders the animals to go outside. Silently they obey. Then she calls them to come back and they do. Such is the open door policy that characterises her little home.

"People are in and out of my house all the time," she says.

In addition to her many friends, Mrs. Pitcher's extended family keep an eye on her, which is another source of happiness.

"I have 20 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren, and listen to me, my darlin'. I don't love one more than the other. They are all my little pumpkins."

Around her, the air is redolent with the smell of curried fish heads which Mrs. Pitcher has cooked up for later. They will help to supplement the food family and friends bring to her on a regular basis.

The former Audrey May Lamb, the daughter of Ira and Ida Lamb, was born and raised in St. David's. Her grandfather, Jeremiah Pitcher, was a legendary violinist, and the late restaurateur/raconteur Dennis Lamb was her only brother. She went to school, first at Hilly Richardson's, then "overseas" to St. George's School. And did she wear a uniform?

"Uniform, what uniform?" she exclaims. "Girl, we had one dress a week! We washed it out and ironed it. We were as poor as a church mouse."

Much later, she met Eldon (Joe) Pitcher when he came calling next door, and the couple were married at the Chapel of Ease on January 14, 1941.

"I got married in an ordinary suit, which was the same colour as my aquamarine ring, and my uncle gave me away," Mrs. Pitcher says.

When asked if she went on honeymoon, she simply roars with laughter.

The couple shared a love of fishing, and like many St. David's Islanders, they took their frying pan along and cooked whatever they caught right there on the rocks.

In time they became the parents of seven children - six girls (Audrey, Denise, Lorraine, Lena May, Kathy and Stella, and one boy, Eldon (Bob).

"I proved myself," Mrs. Pitcher says proudly of Bob. "They say a woman doesn't prove herself until she has a jack (son)."

Cash-strapped the family might have been, but they were rich in love and togetherness.

"I never knew what it was to tell my children they were a nuisance," their mother says. "Offspring become like you, you know. No 'handling the jack' (meaning you had a foul mouth). My children never used to fight. People would say to me, 'Audrey May, you have the best little children in St. David's. I took my children with me wherever I went.

"We had a good life. We had a punt, and all my children knew their position in the boat. My Bob always stayed in the bow. At home we had chickens, ducks, and goats for milk. That's why my kids are so strong today. Goat's milk has a lot of strength, you know."

Mr. Pitcher worked as a mason and a fisherman, and his wife "cooked and cooked and cooked" on a kerosene stove. She did the laundry by hand, using a washboard she still owns today; and she also sewed and knitted all of her children's clothes. Her sole transportation was "Shanks' mare". In other words, she walked.

Even so, the hard-working wife and mother believed then, as now, that it was more important to give her family love and attention than be a slave to picture-book housekeeping.

"I say this much, my darlin', what is not done stays undone. It will get done one day," she says with a wave of her hand.

Momentarily reflecting on those earlier times, she continues: "You know something, girl? We are living in a lazy, lazy world today. No hardships, and still people are grumbling, grumbling, grumbling. What the devil they want to grumble about I don't know. When you wake up in the morning, you should clasp your hands together and thank God you are living."

As a cook at the Junior Training School on Nonsuch Island - a trip she made rain, blow or shine by boat, Mrs. Pitcher was proud of the fact that she was a good sailor.

"Girl, do you know I was the onliest one who travelled that rough sea at 7 a.m? Jimmy Minors operated the boat, and I tell you the truth: I never got scared. There were all these English people on the island, but we were the mainstay. They seemed like they didn't treat us people right."

The same love Mrs. Pitcher showed to her own children was also extended to the juvenile offenders on Nonsuch who were undergoing corrective training.

"Those little boys were sweet," their former cook remembers. "Do you know what they wanted? An arm around them and a kiss," she says, smacking the air with her bright pink lips. "That means a lot today too you know - for everybody."

Indeed, Mrs. Pitcher is all about peace and love, and is at a loss to understand today's attitudes to violence and the Police.

"It's a doggone shame what those young men did on that field (Wellington Oval). Nice people want to go and watch football and cricket, but there's all this cursing and swearing. I hate it, especially when I hear a woman running her filthy mouth. It seems to me like it goes right through my stomach. It's not a nice thing you know. Where is the respect today? As for the cops, you know why you shouldn't hurt a cop? Because they are looking after us. They are trying to keep the peace."

While she's not really a sports fan ("When they play cricket you know the beginning, but with golf you don't"), she is a big fan of country and western music - something that is apparently acknowledged "up west" by radio announcers Larry Thomas and David Lopes.

"Oh yes, I love that music. That's why I love 'All My Ex's Live in Texas', and all my boyfriends" she jokes.

"Larry Thomas comes here, you know, and David always refers to me as 'My good friend down St. David's', so when you hear him say that you know it's me, Audrey May Pitcher, he's talking about. He always plays me something on my birthday. He's got a sweet mum too. I love her. In fact, I love everybody because that's what God wants us to do."

And speaking of birthdays, all Mrs. Pitcher will say about her age is: "32 and never been kissed". Then she laughs. When she learns that she shares the same birthday with the writer, she exclaims: "Well, heavenly father! How come I don't know you?" and laughs again.

In fact, this jolly woman might well be called 'The merry widow' for she is known to all for her humour and laughter.

"No woman, no cry. Everybody says, 'You want a good laugh, come to Audrey May's'. It's better than medicine, you know. The world smiles with you when you laugh."

Indeed, while she lives simply - and still uses kerosene lamps in her bedroom "because they are like old friends: cosy and they keep me warm" - she is very happy with her lot.

"I've never seen a person like me. I am content with nothing," she says.

"The Lord provides because He knows your wants before you do. When you have Christianity you have everything. Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't bring me something. I am like I am because I ask God to help me. Every day is a good day. You know why? Just look who made it."